"With the lights out, it's less dangerous." - Nirvana

Wrong.

I FINALLY MADE IT! Despite all the forces in the world that seemed to point to me never arriving safely to Columbus, here I am. One small problem: NO ELECTRICITY! In Chicago, it rained for about 3 straight days in the wake of hurricane Ike. I was hoping the foul weather wouldn’t follow me to my new home. I was partially lucky. What Columbus lacked in rain, it made up for in high winds, knocking down trees, signs, knocking out power for much of Ohio.

What my dad and I had awaiting our exhausted selves at around 9 last night was traffic lights out, dark and spooky hotels, and a general feeling of chaos. However, after changing hotels, tossing and turning for about seventeen hours in anticipation of today, and taking a hot shower, I was ready to move in, power or not.

So we pulled up to my apartment, the van literally packed to the gills with all the necessary accoutrements. And basically, I LOVE IT! Daddio and I spent about 5 hours building all my IKEA gems. Then we topped the evening off with a nice dinner at the Cap City Diner. But now I’m home. All my things are in boxes and bags and laundry baskets and strewn haphazardly about my room. Having no power on my first night in the apartment is a little unsettling. My roommates moved in two weeks ago and have sort of set up a natural order but I’m still stumbling around a little in the dark. I’m sitting on the floor with flashlight by my side in the dim light of 7 tealight candles lit on my desk. I’m praying for the power to return asap as my phone and computer will not last for much longer. And because, you know, I like having lights to be able to unpack…but even though it’s dark and quiet and both roomies are MIA, it still feels safe because this is my HOME now.

Weird. Moving in today was half as chaotic as last year, despite the lack of OWLs. It felt better because it was all mine. There aren’t several thousand others milling around, rushing the Target, trying to figure out how to make it on the first night of college. It’s just me turning down several of my friends’ invitations to go out. I’m pooped. We have all the time in the world to hang out. Finally. It feels sooooooo good to be back. You don’t even know. And on that note, I should probs blow out these candles and hit the hay before I die of exhaustion.

GO BUCKS!

And GO…ELECTRICAL WORKERS! GO FASTER!